From Out of the Rain
by thehybridmikaelson
Summary: "So here's what I'd like to know; who are you, and what have you done with Caroline?" Caroline has appeared somewhere other than home, and the only one who can help her is Klaus. Or so it seems... KC, kind of AU
1. Adrift

Caroline is, to say the least, pissed. Beyond belief. And the reason for her being incredibly pissed and also kind of really upset (oh, and nearly had a panic attack just a few minutes ago) is, of _course_, Klaus freaking Mikaelson. Duh. She knows that technically they have bigger fish to fry right now with Elena being a complete homicidal _psycho_ bitch with her emotions turned off and all, and the possible threat of Silas being unleashed into the world, and they _really_ had to do something about Bonnie because Caroline is ninety percent sure that she's being like mind-controlled by Shane or something, because there is no way Bonnie would risk bringing down the veil to the other side just to bring Jeremy back to life. But even with all these Bigger Fish, Klaus has always been (as long as she's been a vampire, anyways) been a Pretty Big Fish, as in a pretty big pain in their ass that they've never quite managed to drive away or kill or even desiccate for long.

And now he's done something—she's not sure exactly _what _it is, but he's done _something_ to everyone, he's compelled everyone or, oh, she doesn't know, he's messed with everyone's minds, or maybe just hers, and somehow he's convinced everyone that Caroline is with him.

As in _with him_ with him, not just with him as in in the same location with him. But, like, dating him. Which, _please_, he knows he thinks they're "the same, Caroline" but he drove Tyler away after _killing his mom_, and that was just the cherry on top of all the other horrible things he's done to everyone in the town, herself not excluded—hello, hybrid bite anyone? Not once but _twice_? And now with this.

"Klaus!" She yells, stomping into his mansion, determined to find him and make him undo this, she doesn't care if it kills her, he _has_ to make this freaking stop!

She could have thought—before he killed Mrs. Lockwood, you know—that there was hope. That, you know, because of his situation and his _age_, just being a thousand years old had to do stuff to you, right? And maybe he wasn't that bad, because she thought she'd seen some other side of him, maybe a side of him that came out too rarely, but if she'd seen it then it must be _there_, and maybe he, she doesn't know, could be saved or something. Of course, she was wrong. He's just a terrible, terrible person, and she doesn't know how she could have ever thought that someone who could do something like _this_ to her, who he supposedly "fancies" or cares about could be—

no one has any idea who she is.

Her mom, her best friends, even her boyfriend (who isn't even supposed to be in town, what the _heck_, Klaus? Is this supposed to be some kind of punishment for _her_? What did she even do?) have any idea who she is. Well, most of them seem to think they do, but they think she's some kind of evil Caroline. Klaus' girlfriend, _please_. Like that would ever happen. But, no, they think she's some kind of evil bitchy Caroline who came to town a year back and helped Klaus with sacrificing Elena and tried to use Tyler for the werewolf sacrifice. They're all quite clear on it, except for her mom, who has absolutely no idea who she is at all.

It's horrible, and it hurts to hear that, and all she wants to do is just curl up in a ball and _cry_, except she can't, because she doesn't even have a _home_ to go back to because according to her mom she was never even born, and her mom never even had kids, and there's probably an extra guestroom or a storeroom where hers is supposed to be.

"Caroline?" He all but breathes her name, appearing in front of her quite literally out of nowhere, his face in a perfectly _happy_ smile (how _dare_ he), looking like he's done absolutely nothing wrong, when _clearly_ he has. He immediately moves towards her, and she immediately takes two steps back.

"What did you do?" She tries not to growl at him, but he frowns in confusion—fake, of course. He's a thousand years old, he must have picked up some lying skills somewhere in between, and it's not like evil murderous manipulating psycho original hybrids like honesty, right? He moves towards her again, looking slightly confused, and she steps back again; his face falls just the slightest, before he grins again. What.

"Very nice to see you, too, sweetheart, but if you'd only told me you were coming I could have made arrangements. The house is a bit neglected seeing as it's been just me for a while, but I suppose that'll be fixed soon enough?" He asks, and then gives her a big grin, a big happy one like she's seen on the day of Miss Mystic Falls, and she notices it. His frame is completely relaxed, and he doesn't look at _all_ on edge. In fact, he looks like he expects her to start laughing and kidding about with him about her cleaning his house, if she's not misunderstood him. Almost like he'd be with a girlfriend or something. Also, what is he _on_ about, why does she even care about his house and why would he make arrangements for her to—wait. What does he think this is?

"I'm serious, Klaus. What did you do?" She asks, and he raises his eyebrows at her, looking genuinely confused, except, of course, he's not. He's just that good. She glares at him and steps back when he tries to move towards her freaking _again_.

"You tell me, love. What did I do?" He asks, but he doesn't even look _worried_, or irritable, or anything. He's smiling again, looking more like he's humoring her than being serious, but _this_ is serious. He's done something to the memories of like _everyone_ who knows her (except himself, of course) and no one recognizes her and that, obviously, is to make sure she's left with no one but him who really knows who she is. And he's not treating it seriously, which is just so freaking _frustrating_, what is wrong with him?

"Are you kidding me right now? Because no one here has any idea who I even am!" At his incredibly _blank_ expression, like he really doesn't know what she's talking about, his open mouth like he's about to interject, she raises her hand. "Everyone. Stefan, Elena, even freaking Damon thinks I'm, I don't know, your girlfriend or something. And my mom keeps saying she doesn't have a child, and Tyler thinks I tried to sacrifice him—when did Tyler even come back to town, Klaus? Did you bring him back just to punish me or something, because, let me tell you something, it's working. I don't know what you did or why you're doing it, just, please, stop. Okay? It worked. Take it back."

No, no, no, don't cry, now is _not_ the time to start crying, angry is good, as long as she's angry she's fine, she just really shouldn't start crying right now—no, she's okay. She's fine, she's got it under control. She won't give him the satisfaction of seeing him cry on top of the satisfaction he'll probably get from admitting that, yeah, whatever he'd wanted to do _worked_, which has left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth which is almost worse than the actual saying of it. Of course, when she looks up, he still, he doesn't look smug. He doesn't look satisfied or smug or he's not smiling.

He looks _concerned_.

Like he's not the one who did it anyways.

Don't get her wrong, she knows that it's possible (not probable, but possible) that this is not on Klaus. On the other hand, though, who else could it be? There is no one in town who has a problem specifically with her, or whatever his deal is—she knows he says he fancies her, but considering the events of the past couple of nights, everything he did, she rather feels that his "feelings" for her are wreaking havoc on her life, and, yes, it sucks. He may think he's shown forgiveness in letting Tyler be on the run for the rest of his life, but he's _not_. And she's still lost her boyfriend; except, apparently, Tyler is back, he just hates her, as does _everyone_. (And she'd thought he'd never hurt her. He _said_ he'd never hurt her.) It just makes most sense that Klaus would do this, in an attempt to isolate her from everyone else, or something.

Except, right now, it doesn't look like he did.

"Klaus." She snaps, trying not to let her voice shake. He looks very confused, and very concerned, and _why_ does he look like that? Did he not do this? And if he didn't, then who did, and why has it only happened to _her_?

"Caroline," he starts, and then sighs, looking, just, confused. "I _really_ don't know what you're talking about."

She opens her mouth, then shuts it again, then sighs. _Okay_, she can handle this. She can explain it to him, because he's the only one she's seen all day who hasn't tried to attack her—she can figure this out, and if she has to do it here, she'll do it here, and if he's done this then when she makes him undo it, she will find a way to freaking _hurt_ him like he's hurt her. She will. "Okay, one thing at a time. Why does everyone think I'm your girlfriend?"

He frowns. "Would you prefer lover?"

_Dammit, Klaus, what is even_—

no, deep breaths, calm. She's going to handle this, and she can't be panicking if she wants to be in control.

"When did you let Tyler back in town?" His frown only deepens, and he looks _extremely_ confused, which isn't really a look she's seen on him before; and, of course, because so far she has put him in the to-blame position this is confusing the heck out of her, even more than before she got here, which (she didn't think was possible) is just _great_.

"Tyler Lockwood?" He asks, like he's confirming, but which other Tyler is even _in_ town? She nods, trying not to be impatient (except, of _course_ she's impatient). "I wasn't aware that he'd left town." He says, and she bites her lip—okay, what? He was _there_ when he forced Tyler to leave Mystic Falls forever until Klaus finds him and kills him, and she was there, too, and it was just the beginning for one of the worst points in her life; AKA, right freaking _now_, but according to Klaus Tyler'd never even _left_?

What the hell is going on here?

"You ran him out of town." She clarifies, enunciating slowly, and he raises his eyebrows.

"Why would I run one of my hybrids out of town, Caroline?" He asks, and her mouth, she kids not, her mouth _falls_ open, because what the _heck_ is he talking about? A. Because he's a vengeant bastard, which is why he killed all the other hybrids—wait.

"One of your hybrids? What do you mean _one_ of your hybrids? You killed all the rest." She snaps, and he just looks more amused now.

"Caroline, sweetheart," Klaus says, and she jerks away when he reaches for her, tries to ignore his confused (confused, confused, confused, which is _all_ he looks like, and she doesn't freaking _get _it) frown. "Why would I want to do that?"

She feels lost. And confused. And_ upset_ because of the previous two, and just everything else that's happened today, and what is even going _on_ here, she wants to know, because this isn't even Klaus pretending; why would he even pretend about that? The hybrids? Because she doesn't actually give a shit about those hybrids, they broke her wrist (over and over) and they seemed really happy to keep her captive, so, no, she doesn't care that he killed them except that it proves that he's a class A asshole—so what is the _point_? "You killed them." She says, but feels like she's floundering. "You massacred them because they broke the sirebond and tried to kill you, and then you killed Tyler's mom. On the night of the Winter Wonderland."

His face falls, and when did his hand come to rest on her arm? How did she not notice? She tries to jerk it away, but he keeps it there this time, and he looks so _worried_ for her, like something's wrong with her. Something _is_ wrong with her, because clearly no one else remembers any of this happening. She swallows.

"Why don't you tell me everything from the beginning?" He asks, voice low and soothing—he's pacifying her, she realizes, keeping her from having a full-blown panic attack or something of the like. She's too tired to be pissed or thankful or _anything_; she's also too scared. Where is she? What kind of freaky alternate universe or bad dream or _what_ has she stepped in, and how does she get out? Is it everyone else who's mind has been messed with, or hers?

She shudders as he leads her to a couch, and she sits down, noticing that her phone's ringing in her pocket. She picks it up feeling dazed, then notices that it's Klaus, holding a phone up to his ear as well. Oh. He's calling her; why? Why is anything happening today, though? (Of _course_ it's him, though. Who else would it be? Her mom, calling to tell her that she'd suddenly remembered that she has a kid, or Elena suddenly realizing that Caroline is her _best friend_?)

"What?" She snaps, and he hangs up.

"Tell me everything you remember." Klaus is saying, and she swallows, suddenly unsure of herself. Maybe it's her that's been compelled. Maybe it's not Klaus, it's Rebekah, or something. Rebekah doesn't like her much, so it's possible she did this to her just out of spite. Besides, Stefan was shacking up with her, and it's also possible that Rebekah felt uncomfortable at how close they are, and compelled her to forget who she is—no, wait, Rebekah doesn't have _that_ much of a problem with her. Besides, if she is Klaus' girlfriend or whatever, then Stefan hates her, so she really doesn't see the point.

Dammit.

"I'm Caroline Forbes." She says, and he nods. Well, then. At least she's kept her name. "I'm a vampire, I'm eighteen, except I'm not, because I died at seventeen." He frowns at this (why?), but motions for her to continue, so she does. "I was born in Mystic Falls, and I've never really left this town, even though with all this stuff happening I kind of want to sometimes. I'm dating Tyler, except you ran him out of town. Oh, and he hates me now because he thinks I tried to kill him. Elena's my best friend, but apparently I tried to sacrifice her. My mom, Liz Forbes, the town sheriff, doesn't remember ever having kids. Everyone thinks I'm your girlfriend or something, but that would _never_ happen. You're a monster." She says it to his face; he winces.

"You're not Caroline, are you?" He asks, and she glares at him.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm Caroline!" She snaps, and he gives her a tight smile.

"The Caroline I know was born in 1882 in New Orleans. While her name, too, is Caroline Forbes, she's over a hundred years old and we've been together, or _dating_ if you'd prefer, since the turn of the century; the twentieth century, that is. And as far as I can remember, you've—_she's_ never particularly liked the doppelganger, she was indeed present for the sacrifice; honestly, love, she helped me with it. And as far as I can remember, Tyler Lockwood has never been anything but a conveniently placed werewolf to her. Now, you're clearly not her, but when I call her on this wonderful technological marvel called a cellphone, it's your phone that rings." She suddenly realizes where he's going with this, oh _shit_. His face turns upwards into a smirk, but this isn't the laughing kind, it's the mocking and downright _scary_ kind—"So here's what I'd like to know; who are you, and what have you done with Caroline?"

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><p><strong>So, not even sure this is a thing I'll be continuing or writing or whatever, I've just had overwhelming feels today, and, yeah. This is the result. Um, review? Maybe? I guess? Also, whoops, not beta-ed or proofread, so there are mistakes.<strong>


	2. The One Percent Solution

Okay.

_What._

Seriously, though, what is going on? She's definitely sure now; Klaus has nothing to do with this, because he is deadly serious; and by deadly serious, she means serious enough that he looks like he's going to kill her if she makes one misstep, because at the moment he thinks she's threatening herself; or some other version of herself, or whatever. Like she somehow kidnapped _herself _and is now here to—what? What would she even come here for? And even if she was trying to kidnap this Caroline (that's weird) that he's talking about, why would she try to impersonate her? Which, you know, isn't what she's doing in the first place, but how is she going to explain that to him?

Oh God, this is Klaus. She is in very much danger now, and not just danger of emotional trauma, but _physical_ danger. He's convinced that she's done something to his Caroline (_God_ that's even weirder) who is a completely different person than she is, and, well, if they've been together a century, then he must care about her, and at the moment he thinks she's a threat, which puts her in more danger from him than she's ever been; and he's the Original Hybrid, and he's like a million years old. He's picked up a couple of tricks over the centuries, of course. So what will he do to her?

No, no panicking. Just, think with a calm head. She needs to convince him that she's not done anything to his Caroline, and also that she's really not dumb enough to be trying to pull the wool over his eyes. He probably invented that trick, anyways.

"Wait, just, wait a second. I've lived in this town my whole life, and all of a sudden the people who I've known forever are telling me that they think I'm another person. So if anything's happened to this, this _other_ Caroline, then it's not me doing it. Do you really think that if I was impersonating her, or whatever, that I'd have come in asking you about Tyler, or Elena? I don't know what's going on here, but I'm not the one responsible for this, I swear. I just want to get back home."

He looks like he sees the logic in that (thank _God_) and frowns, picking up a glass of bourbon from the side table.

"So what's your theory, then? Where is she?"

Well, that's a tough one, considering; she's no idea where this other Caroline is, but it's possible she's still in New Orleans, right? Maybe she never left. Except, apparently, when Klaus calls_ her_, it's her phone that rings. How did that even happen? Do they have the same number, too? It doesn't make sense. And all this stuff, like the hybrids being alive, and Tyler being in town, her never being _born_—it's almost like she's in a completely different world, somehow.

She swallows.

Different world? Can that happen? Like, a lot of impossible stuff has happened since she's become a vampire, actually _becoming a vampire_ being one of them. Her best friends are a witch and a vampire, who's also a doppelganger of two others before her, and she's dating a hybrid who used to be a werewolf, and she's standing in the room with a thousand year-old. She's seen ghosts and there's this whole Other Side deal going on where supernaturals go where they die; so why not different worlds?

How does she—oh God, how does she even start trying to get back?

Right, Klaus is still waiting for his answer. She clears her throat, tries not to flail. "Okay," she says, "so, I know I grew up in the same town, and if another Caroline had come here once, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered, which makes me think; what if I'm not in the same Mystic Falls? Like, different universes or something? Because there is no way that all these people, including you, remembered who I was yesterday and forgot today. I mean, yesterday all the other hybrids were dead, but you're saying you never killed them. And yesterday Tyler wasn't in town, but today he is. There's no way this is the same Mystic Falls, right?"

"You're telling me you're from a different universe where you _are_ just eighteen, and things are as you believe they should be here? One where Caroline doesn't exist, like you don't here?" She nods, and he frowns, setting his glass down and turning away from her. She bites her lip, hoping he believes her, mostly because she knows that if he doesn't he might start torturing her for information about the other Caroline, which would _suck_, and not only because she hasn't actually got any information about her, and doesn't really know her at all, and didn't know she existed until now, really.

Klaus looks amused. Well, not amused, more incredulous, really. Great. She needs him to believe her; after all, right now he'd be the _only_ person who she can trust, considering everyone else in town kind of wants to kill her. Besides, he's a thousand, which makes him the best protection she can get, especially if the Salvatores try to attack her or something, which she doesn't doubt. If anyone hurts Elena, then they're definitely going to try to take them out. And Caroline's not exactly going to be hard to kill if they _all_ try to come at her. The only thing she can do is stick by Klaus and hope no one attacks her for fear of pissing him off, or something — _or_ if they do attack her, that Klaus keeps her safe.

Oh, God. What has she gotten herself into if she needs to _depend_ on him to keep her safe? She needs to wise up to everything that's happened here _fast_, and figure out a way to keep herself safe. Klaus is not her protector.

"Let's say I believe you, love. That still doesn't explain where Caroline is." He says, turning around, and she sighs. She doesn't know that. Obviously; if her theory is right, she just _got_ here. How is she to know anything?

"I don't know. Maybe she's still wherever she's supposed to be. You've been together for a hundred years, right? So how come she's not upstairs sleeping or whatever? Didn't you say it'd been just you for a while?"

"Caroline was in New Orleans the last I'd heard from her, which was two days ago." At her questioning look (duh, why? Doesn't together sort of imply they'd actually _be together_? Like, in the same place?) he continues, "She was in the Caribbean islands, helping out a witch she owed a favor to, after which she decided that taking a bit of a break would in New Orleans would be a better idea than doing so here. I may have mentioned that it would be dangerous for her to come here while the town's little band of misfits is still trying to hunt down a cure."

She raises an eyebrow, confused. "What do you mean? They found the cure ages ago. Okay, so Katherine stole it, but they did find it. They got back from that island days back." She says, and he raises his eyebrows in response, sitting down opposite her on another armchair, then shakes his head.

"What island? My brother and I are quite hard at work convincing them against looking for the cure at all." _My brother and I?_ What brother? Elijah? Really, that's weird, because no one's seen or heard anything from or of Elijah in months, since he left town the night they desiccated Klaus—no, wait. _Shit._

Kol.

"Klaus," she says slowly, "Kol — " She pauses, unsure. What would she even say? They killed Kol for warning them against the cure? Klaus will _not_ take well to being told his brother is dead, like he hadn't taken well to them actually killing him. Besides, if she does tell him, who's to say he won't get mad enough and just kill her? Whether or not she looks like _his_ Caroline, she is, to him, essentially, a stranger. Right?

Klaus is looking at her expectantly, though, so she licks her lips and says what is pretty much the truth. Or close enough, anyways. "Trying to stop us getting the cure, it didn't work. Um, we trapped you in Elena's house so we could get to the cure."

"You trapped _me _in the doppelganger's home? How? I'm an Original, love, it's not easy to trap me anywhere. And to trap _two_ Originals..." Well, yeah. If it was easy to trap an Original, they'd have gotten rid of all of them long ago, kept them magically trapped in their mansion or something, and they could do what they liked. Maybe then all of Caroline's problems would magically disappear, like this one.

"Okay, so it's not happened here. They, uh, tricked you by, uh, attacking Kol, and then when you were inside Bonnie did a spell to keep you there so you wouldn't interfere." That has to be safe enough, probably.

"What did I do? In your universe, how painfully did Kol torture whoever it was that made the mistake of trying to attack him?" He asks, sounding amused, which, of course, this _is _Klaus. He's amused at the idea of torture. _God_. She doesn't know what she'd expected.

"Nothing, really. Kol was kind of just, uh, lying there for most of it. You were pretty mad, though, you bit me at one point. And then you ran Tyler out of town. Jeremy died on the island, Silas killed him, so there wasn't exactly anything you could do to them. For trapping you, I mean." He clenches his jaw, then unclenches it and looks at her with a grin—which, what? Bit out of nowhere, isn't it? The topic of conversation changes like he's suddenly completely forgotten that in another universe he did _not_ take revenge for them attacking his brother (and, as he thinks, failing. She has to make absolutely sure he doesn't find out what really happened); of course, it's not happened here, so maybe he's got nothing to worry about?

"And yet, here you sit. Alive despite a hybrid bite. Clearly there's more between us than you've revealed, if you were brave enough to come making demands of me in my own home. And why did I heal you if I bit you myself?"

She tries to avoid the question, feeling uncomfortable. He keeps staring at her, though, intent on getting an answer, and she can _feel_ him looking at her even when she looks away, down, anywhere but at him. Damn. She really didn't want this to come up, considering how vehemently she's been against the remote possibility of her being his girlfriend or lover or whatever. While, yeah, that's not a thing that's going to happen, it remains that he does have a crush on her or something, which isn't exactly something she wants to talk about with this Klaus, who is, well, with her. Another version of her, but still.

"Okay, so you have some kind of thing for me. You fancy me, or whatever. You're very persistent, and it's very annoying." He smiles at her, like a real smile—why?

"And yet you trust that I won't harm you, or you wouldn't have come here as you did." He says, and she sighs, then nods. She kind of does; even though she was very pissed when she came here, and still kind of is, she was pretty sure he wouldn't hurt her (again). Physically, at least. She also cannot stress enough how much the knowledge makes her uncomfortable.

"It doesn't matter, okay? I'm with Tyler. Just, not this Tyler. My Tyler." She looks away for a second, trying not to think about the absolute _hatred_ in Tyler's face when he looked at her earlier, so much anger, like he hated her; which he should, considering she tried to kill him. It's just strange. She tried to kill him. She was the one who was using him for the werewolf sacrifice, which obviously means she wasn't the vampire sacrifice herself.

It is also weird in that impossible never _ever_ going to happen way, that she's been _with_ Klaus for a hundred years, because, really, how? She knows that even her Klaus (no, no, not _her_ Klaus, just the Klaus that she knows, that's _not_ what she means, seriously) is always talking about forever and stuff, but being with someone a hundred years, that's not something she can even start to comprehend. She's a vampire, sure, and she gets in theory that she has forever (unless some new Bad Guy of the Day in Mystic Falls kills her, which is a big possibility), but she doesn't really get it, really. She's just spent a year as a vampire, and all that time has gone into stuff like plotting and trying to stay alive, so she hasn't exactly had a chance to think about that forever.

Besides, even if she does get back to her universe, it feels like for the next hundred years her and Tyler will be separated because he will probably still be on the run—if Klaus hasn't found him, which would be _infinitely_ worse.

Which is why it doesn't matter that in a different universe she's with Klaus, because in her own world she never will be. She knows that if Klaus finds Tyler, he won't let him go, and she doesn't think she could be with him after that. Ever. She couldn't forgive that even if a hundred years passed. She _can_ see herself forgiving the other things, things she'd even started to forget, but that was before Winter Wonderland and before he killed Mrs. Lockwood. Before he ran Tyler out of town. Before he proved that he was as terrible as she'd thought.

In this universe, he's not that bad, or so it seems. Obviously he isn't, or she wouldn't still be with him, right?

Except, she might not be the same. She might be really different. She's a hundred years old, and she comes from a time when blood bags weren't even a thing, so would she be on a blood bag diet? Probably not. And she wouldn't exactly have had Stefan to teach her to control her urges, and who knew what she was really like? What if she'd completely let her humanity go, or was just as twisted as Klaus could be?

"Where do you think she is?" She asks. "Your—the other Caroline?"

His face hardens just the slightest before he responds. "Well, seeing as you're here, I'm inclined to believe that Caroline might be in your... _universe_."

Caroline's face falls.

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><p><strong>So, I guess I'm going ahead with this after all? Thank you <strong>**_so_**** much everyone who reviewed/favourited or followed, it means a lot.**


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